Then, rather than following the synagogue's expectations of providing traditional textual commentary (with all eyes are fastened upon him), Jesus simply starts by saying "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing".
In 2013 I heard Isaiah's proclamation as a future prophecy. Jesus fulfilled his words on that day in Nazareth, being the incarnate son of God. Jesus acknowledged that unique authority and that "scripture fulfilled" was an end point. Big and final win. The others in the synagogue were angry because they did not recognize his divinity.
Later Jesus dies on the cross, comes back, and ascends into heaven each event marking other historical end points in the past. In the present we either wait for the overdue kingdom of God, work to bring it out about, or anticipate the afterlife where this kingdom comes to pass.
In 2016 I heard this was not Jesus claiming superior authority to Isaiah's in my ears. This scripture did not need Jesus God incarnate to be fulfilled. Isaiah's words, read by Jesus, are challenging our best instincts and leave me, for one, as aghast as those in the Nazarene synagogue. Because of that word today and knowing this is not about Jesus alone.
Is it just Jesus who is anointed to bring good news to the poor and to proclaim the release of captives? Isn't this a scripture to stir our blood. That as Jesus is anointed so are we as one body in Christ? Is now the time to proclaim the recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor? Wait. Stop. There is still social inequity, captives, blindness and oppression. Does the Lord really favor this year? This year? Isn't everything worse than before? Come on, what we all hope for hasn't happened yet, right?
Jesus continues to speak to the synagogue in verses 24 - 27. His words confront how conditions are placed on spreading the good news and answers the questions above. How should a good Christian respond? Jesus, yes, I want to spread the gospel. No problem but to spread it truthfully, well, let me get my list. Yes, first all widows need to be fed, and all lepers need to be healed and, and, and, and when my checklist is complete I'll gladly proclaim the good news and see this as the year of the Lord's favor. Spreading the good news should naturally wait until there is progress made. Otherwise there is no good news.
Yet that response doesn't address the today in "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Well, surely then that can't be right. Maybe a time limit was reached and now that scripture, once again, needs to be fulfilled? How could Isaiah write this and Jesus declare the scripture is fulfilled when nothing addressed in this scripture has changed at all?
In 2019
I no longer saw Jesus preaching that he and his ministry was some sort of culmination and end point of the quoted Isaiah 61:1-2 passage. Rather this was his teaching about how God's kingdom is contained in the world today, as it has always been.
Jesus was not alone in being anointed to bring good news to the poor and
to proclaim the release of captives. In this world we are the body of
Christ. Now is the time for us to proclaim the recovery of sight
to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and to proclaim the year of
the Lord's favor.
This builds us up to see God's kingdom today. Do we have faith that the
Lord really favors this year or any year since these words were first
uttered? There will always be social inequity, blindness and oppression.
There are still captives. This insight came in 2019 when 2018 was a year
where the cruelty of a zero-tolerance policy was introduced in our
country. Any revealed or secret hopes for global justice didn't happen that year or in the years before that. It is foreseeable there will
still be injustice at the end of this coming year. Surely, we think,
some wrongs must be righted before honestly being able to say, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
Yet to believe these wrongs must be righted first, however, makes Isaiah and Jesus when they proclaim today
a lie. What Jesus is driving at in his first sermon is that Isaiah
words are fulfilled in our hearing, in our collective.ear And this
scripture was read and was fulfilled in 2022, 2019, 2016 and in 2013, This Gospel is fulfilled each time it is read. This Gospel was
read and fulfilled before 2013 and back and back each year to that
Nazarene synagogue and further back to Isaiah. This good news is
permanent, deeper and greater than we imagine.
I felt blessed today with a different joy as well. I was amazed not only
by what Jesus quoted in this scroll but also what Jesus left out Here
is the Isaiah passage:
Isaiah 61:1-2
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn
Isaiah's day of vengeance is not included in the sermon Jesus
makes. For me, in this moment, that is God being revealed more fully.
In 2019 Pastor Ray preached that God comes for us. Jesus, the New Testament
angels, and the Gospel all assure us to fear not. I cannot
believe God is coming for anyone to exact retribution or out of anger.
If I had other experiences in my life I might have different beliefs but
that I do worship an angry God and I do not see the body of Christ
proclaiming a day of vengeance.
In 2022 on this Sunday I explored Pastor Hazel Salazar-Davidson's Blog, a Journey of Heartbreak Through Systemic Racism and wonder how God is calling their people to work through the systemic racism our society is engaged in, to proclaim the Good News to the poor.
So many stories now are cloaked in secrecy, disinformation and hearsay. At Misión Latina Luterana a Latinx mission developer was removed from his post. The bishop and synod council decided to follow protocol by delivering that message to that Latinx community the day after the vote, which happened to be one of the most sacred days in the Latin community: Dia de la Virgen de la Guadalupe.
Misión Latina Luterana is currently without a place to go to celebrate and pray to their Savior Jesuscristo, according to a member of their community.
I haven't lost hope. I just wonder what part the Body of Christ needs to play in bringing about The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord to be upon us.
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